


At Home

by friendlyneighborhoodfairy



Series: FNF's Nonbinary Month fics 2019 [11]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Inoue is the best always, Loving Marriage, Other, Supportive Partners, nonbinary man, using different pronouns with different groups of people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 09:44:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighborhoodfairy/pseuds/friendlyneighborhoodfairy
Summary: {Nonbinary Month 2019 #11.} Tatsuki gets home and Orihime can immediately tell something's bugging them. The different ways Tatsuki presents their gender in various spheres works for them--but not for other people.





	At Home

**Author's Note:**

> Bleach (Tatsuhime) + nonbinary/nonbinary man/it’s complicated. (Yes, that is a gender. xoxo)
> 
> I know it's the end of September! Gah, I'm doing it again, just like 2017. >.< But I have this and a few other oneshots for Nonbinary Month that I never posted. I'm very busy, but I'll get the others up as soon as I can!
> 
> You guys are awesome ^u^

Orihime knew Tatsuki was home not just because neither of them had fixed the squeaky hinge yet. There was the heavy thumping of wrangling off shoes; the loud rustle of a coat violently thrown; and then a sigh.

Orihime took the time to slowly dim her powers, to ease out of the mental stillness she put herself in when attempting new things (and dealing with Tsubaki's ranting).

When she reached the main room, Tatsuki lounged on the sofa with beer in hand, feet up. Their eyes were closed and head tilted back, and they looked so much like the serenity Orihime had just emerged from that she almost didn't want to disturb them.

She came up behind the sofa and slid her hands over their shoulders.

"Mm, hello," Tatsuki hummed, eyes opening and a small smile gracing their lips as they tipped their head back to look at her.

Smiling back, Orihime began to fiddle with their collar.

"Your tie's still on," she commented, pulling it free after a moment.

Tatsuki's hand caught her arm and pulled her down closer, nose meeting forehead gently as they stared at one another upside-down.

"How are you?" Tatsuki asked, and Orihime could tell they were trying to be sincere, really cared—maybe even wanted to focus on something other than their own mental state right now.

But she knew better; knew Tatsuki could never focus when they were like this, wouldn't remember a word she said.

Coming around the sofa, she joined them and settled for, "Tired and happy. I'm getting faster. And healing reiryoku—I'm getting better."

"Nice," Tatsuki said in genuine impression, taking a sip of their beer.

Orihime stole the bottle after them and took a drink. "How about you?"

A familiar irritated smirk pricked their features. "Hayato's a real idiot in the dojo. I keep telling him to just run the business, but he fancies himself a grand master. He's a grand master at numbers. If I have to hear one more, 'you beat me this time because you got lucky'… I wasn't even trying to fight him; I just punched his arm to prove a point!"

Orihime giggled in spite of herself.

"Maybe that can be your argument," she said. "If his luck is the reason he's never in his life beat you down, then clearly it's terrible luck and he ought not to push it."

"I'm not nice enough like you are," Tatsuki grumbled, though they laced their fingers through hers and squeezed. An old fond gesture.

"I stole your niceness while you weren't looking," Orihime teased, stealing their beer again as if to prove it.

Tatsuki laughed, a sound which made Orihime happy until it melted away too quickly, their brooding returning like a silent, deep snowfall.

"He tried to say…" they began after a minute, then stopped.

She waited.

Taking a long pull and finishing the beer off, they carefully placed it in the exact center of the coaster, straightening the coaster's edges to square up with the table.

"He's never once respected my gender, you know that?" they said, sitting back and not quite looking at her. "Never. But today he decided it would be good to pull the, 'you're not a man so we're not the same gender,' card as an argument as to why I'm better when we spar. He babbled on and on; lighter body, different build, physical differences—that must be why I always win. And we need him, because after all," their lips twisted in disgust, "we have a female instructor for the women students taking self-defense, right? So we need a male instructor for the men students."

"And you for the enbie children?"

"I don't know _what_ he wanted to imply. He just wants to be useful. He wants to prove his value. He can't see that I need him doing the billing and contracts and everything else—he is plenty useful! But no, that's clerk work and he's _better _than that. He's a karate master. It's his job to pass on his _infinite wisdom._"

"Do you…do you want to be known as nonbinary at work?" she asked tentatively. "Do you want people to use your pronouns?"

They let out an inarticulate sound, hand coming up to rub their forehead. With firm hands, Orihime moved their fingers out of the way and began to massage their temples. She didn't have to call on her rikka to exert a healing influence.

Relaxing after a few moments, Tatsuki sighed. "I don't know. It's easier to be a man at work. It's not like it's _not_ me. I _am_ a man, I'm just also…more. And it never feels wrong when my students call me 'he.' I can be a man at work and be myself and it…it works. I don't know. I just don't feel like changing things there. It's easier like this and it does feel okay."

"Then that's what matters," Orihime told them, kissing their forehead. Tatsuki jumped a little at the motion, eyes going soft. "If it feels okay, then it's fine."

Tatsuki's smile was tired, but it was sincere.

"I even like wearing a suit. It feels good. I like my body. I like my shoulders. I like how I look and feel. Even if I immediately change at work and basically wear a gi all day, the half hour at the start and end of the day…I feel powerful and like myself."

Orihime nodded. "That feeling like you're where you're supposed to be. Or _who_ you're supposed to be."

"Yeah." Light dawned in their eyes. "Yeah, like that."

"So Hayato's just a jerk," Orihime said decisively.

Tatsuki laughed and nodded.

"He just says what he can to get his way. Including using your gender to help his own cause. He doesn't actually care about anybody besides himself."

"Quite probably true," they said wryly.

"Would you like me to bake him something poisonous?"

Tatsuki whipped around in shock. "Orihime!"

"Not _deadly_ poisoned," she said. "The sort of thing that will give him a stomach ache. Or which smells good but tastes horrid. Or…" Orihime tapped her cheek. "I wonder if I could make something which saps his strength. And if it's a comfort food, then I can keep giving it to him as he gets sicker and sicker and he'll think I'm being sympathetic, but he'll be unable to teach karate or be mean to you—"

"Hime," Tatsuki laughed, pushing a hand over her mouth. "Hime, stop! You sound serious."

"I mean…"

Snorting, Tatsuki rolled closer so that the pair were cuddling in the corner of the couch, Tatsuki's nose against her hair.

"I love you."

"I'll do anything for my dragon."

"I know," they laughed. "Believe me, I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for commenting :)


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